Monthly Archives: October 2010

I’m illustrating a new selection of OOAK’s (One of a Kind Pocket Nappies) at the moment and thought you might like to join me as a designer! So, what would you like to see illustrated on a b&t??? And style wise – Shabbychic/retro/vintage/abstract?

TO ENTER: Describe your dream b&t ooak and you are in the running to WIN IT! Extra entries for each shout out, blog post, link etc that you do for b&t (no limit, tee hee). Competition closes 30th Oct.

My local group of knitting/nattering nutters and I had our latest yarn swap last night at Lizzie’s place. As usual, there was a lot of excitement about with the swap parcels all lined up in front of the fire place. The theme for this swap was ‘Your favourite fairytale’, I chose Cinderella, and my swap partner Sheryl, chose Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The parcels were to include hand dyed wool, a wee gift to the value of $10NZ, and a food item, all relating to our theme.

Here’s the parcel I put together for Sheryl. Theme: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I decided to focus on the poison apple and kettle dyed some Bendigo Wool Mills merino in a ‘poison’ colourway. The wee purse next to the yarn is a felted/handpainted/embroidered ‘Wandering Woodland’ purse, representing the walk Snow White made through the woods on her travels to meet the dwarfs.

The girls’ and I felted a scattering of ‘pebbles’ and a scented soap, to represent the stones/pebbles throughout the trail in the woods.

I made a ‘Poison Apple Tree’ card using a combination of printmaking/painting and ink to create the illustration. Rio decorated the inside with drawings of crocodiles, lions, and tigers. We finished it off with a bottle of sparkling grape juice and a packet of ‘Pebbles’ (the edible choccy kind) in a cane basket with a handle and wee red bows.

Nyree put together a beautiful package of goodies for my theme ‘Cinderella’. She chose a really pretty hank of ‘Touch Yarn’ 4 ply on soft pink/lavender/peach tones, it’s really scrummy! Nyree is a bit of a crack up, and included a packet of ‘The Natural Confectionary Company’s’ Sour Worms which represent the evil step sisters! She’s given me a packet of pumpkin seeds and a very nice, sweet looking pumpkin which is going to become part of a roast vege salad for dinner this week. Little Miss Charlea’s favourite part of the gift is the shiny purple paper weight that Nyree got from TradeAid. She has been running off with it this morning, yelling “Mine!”. The parcel was all wrapped up in handmade paper wrap (which I’ll reuse to make cards etc with thanks Nyree) and a pretty wee bow (which will also be reused!). Thanks Nyree 🙂 Kate

I am participating in the NZ Fibre Swap 6.0 over on Ravelry, and have been really spoilt by Frances, my swappee. She is an organised woman, and sent me two parcels ahead of time. One as a teaser, and the second today. Thanks so much Frances, you are just lovely. I can’t wait to get started spinning. 🙂 Kate

The package: two beautiful lavender floral cards (one in each parcel), enough packets of seeds to keep the girls’ and I out of mischief for some time, ‘The Natural Confectionary Company’ Snakes (much appreciated being natural flavours & colours thankyou!), Schoppel Wolle INSilk 75% merino/25% silk (VERY spoilt receving this) and two hanks of Kate Mahoney hand dyed fibre in the most brilliant lime green/deep purple/dusky blue colourway. How I love fibre goodies!! By the way, Morag over at Vintage Purls has just got the pencil roving in, enable, enable. Happy spinning everyone!